I used to get an ugly feeling when it came to gratitude journals. (See that play on words? Good, Bad, ugly feeling? … You get it.) I used to feel gross for not doing gratitude journals, because I knew I *should* do them. Problem is, when life got really tough, gratitude often felt like invalidating my feelings. It reminds me of a video short of Brené Brown talking about empathy. It’s worth a watch.
Gratitude journals often feel like that deer using silver paint to put a silver lining on my struggles. I am going through something “that is incredibly painful and [I’m] trying to silver lining it.” (Maybe not a verb but I like it.) I got this idea into my head that gratitude would somehow make my difficult situation all better. And if it wasn’t better, I would make it seem better. I didn’t want to be a whiner.
I had read about some of the benefits of gratitude. I wanted to want to practice gratitude. I let that desire grow until I did want to. I took time to ponder just how I could do it without invalidating my very real, very painful circumstances. Over the course of a few days, an idea started to form: I needed to tell how deep the hole was for me to fully express how grateful I was to be out of it. Sometimes I wasn’t out of the hole, but oh how grateful I felt for any light, any comfort, any relief. Validating my struggle added to my joy.
- What does practicing gratitude look like for you?
Happy Sunday!